Researcher Examines Communication and the Calypso Experience Among Youth

By Tahna Weston

The way young people communicate and consume music is changing how calypso develops, according to music researcher Andrew Martin.
Speaking on Observer AM, Martin said calypsonians have always been storytellers and keen observers of society, but today’s young people are growing up in a very different environment.
“Calypsonians don’t just all of a sudden become calypsonians in their mid-50s. They’ve always been a person who wants to story-tell. They’ve always been a person with sharp wit. They’ve always been a person who is a good observer of other people. Historically, calypsonians were doing this just out of survival of existence, of being a person in a colonized British place at some point, in some area at some time in their life.
Martin said the biggest change is how young people now communicate with one another.
“It was kids, it was young adults, it was adults that were doing this on their own. No one was asking them. There was no competition, there was no national celebration, it was just people who were doing these things, getting together in these local spaces whether that be a restaurant, a rum shop or whatever it is and people were creating this music.
“And so, if we think of how for the analogous young person… now in 2026 versus 1926, how are they hanging out? How are they talking to one another? Are they doing it digitally? I’m just thinking of my own kids who range in age from 12 to 17 and when they want to talk to their friends, they don’t just go down the street to talk to their friends. They first start messaging them and texting and then maybe they’re going to do a group chat or whatever it may be,” Martin said.
Martin added that these changes in communication are influencing how young people create and engage with Calypso today.